Protector
by Konoha's Black Dragon
Summary: Love doesn't have a reason, it just is. That's why I'll protect you. Because I love you. On Hiatus
1. Chapter 1

I ran through the crowds, shoving every passerby aside that was in my way, which sadly was most of them. You'd think that a 5'8 guy, charging, no that was an understatement, practically mowing people over, down the street would be noticed; but apparently not.

_Naruko, what the __hell __were you thinking?_

Not even five minutes ago, Iruka knocks on my door, asks me where Naruko while explaining that she had stolen the Forbidden Scroll. I pointed him slightly off the mark because I had to talk to Naruko first. I smirked, it pays to be a skilled sensory ninja, you always find out about things so much faster.

Suddenly the crowds ended as I ran into a side street that opens up to the forest.

_She's got to be at that old shack out here, I can't think of anything else out here to mark your position by, after all, there is no way she would take that scroll of her own free will, someone is definitely behind this... Please be safe Naruko!_

A female's terrified scream split the air before it was abruptly cut off.

_Shit!_

I kept running, praying that I would get there in time to save Naruko. I finally got to the clearing to see Naruko, stripped, gagged with a foreign cloth, and tied up to a tree with some rope, and Mizuki's hands roaming her body.

"You damned Bastard!" I cried out, he turned to face me, a look of shock on painting every feature for the flash of the nanosecond I saw it.

Then I barreled into him. I don't care who you are, being hit by 180 pounds of muscle by a person running at a full tilt is going to hurt! That and the fact that I ducked my shoulder to hit him right in the center of his sternum… We hit the ground and skidded for a bit, Mizuki trying to get air into his lungs and I trying to put the kunai I had pulled out into his heart, seeing as how he'd managed to smash his elbow into the side of my face, effectively knocking me off him. I rolled away and snapped back to my feet, shaking my head to get rid of the dizziness that the blow had created.

"Really now, why do you get involved, you can't possibly want to save that demon now, do you?"

He got up to his feet and rubbed his chest, flinching as he did so. All the while spitting out the phrase 'that demon" like the foulest taste in the world he's ever known.

"Demon? Don't you mean jinchuuriki? There is a huge difference you know."

I ducked under a punch and returned a harder one to his sternum, causing him to stumble away, a look of pain on his face.

"After all, sealing a kunai into a scroll doesn't turn the scroll into a kunai, now does it, or are you to idiotic to realize that hmm?"

He glared at me, watching my movements. I wasn't too concerned with him at the moment, I was hoping that Naruko had listened to me, and understood what I was trying to say.

"The Kyuubi attacked us and the fourth died sealing the demon away into Naruko-chan. Every day she lives she is holding the demon back, protecting us. And yet you idiots act as if you are trying to get her to release the demon. The wounded will go to those who act like they are healing their wounds."

I flinched at that last bit, as it didn't come out like I had wanted it to, but I didn't have time to think much about it, as Mizuki attacked me again, this time wielding a giant fuuma shuriken. Again I ducked under his blow, this time throwing my kunai at the ropes holding Naruko's hands. I was rewarded with a blow to my back, and her free hands. Grunting I slammed into the dirt, rolling away as the shuriken pierced the ground where I had fallen. Rising to my feet I saw the shuriken flying towards me and I put up my arms to block the attack, barely biting back a scream as the steel bit deep into my flesh of my forearms.

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

I close my eyes as hundreds of nude Naruko's fill my vision. I kneel down, holding my arms to my side, feeling the warm stickiness of blood run down to my hands as the sounds of fists hitting flesh fill my ears. After about a minute or so the sounds of fighting die down as a pair of soft hands lift up my left arm and wrap the bandages around the wounds on my arms and hands.

"Thank you, really." She spoke so softly that I barely heard her over the softest sounds of the forest around us.

"Like I could let you get into trouble without me by your side!" I hissed from pain as she tied off the bandage unexpectedly tight causing my voice to raise slightly. "Was that necessary?"

"I'm the one getting you out of trouble all the time…" she commented dryly assessing and reassessing her work.

"Exactly, I can't let you get into trouble because I owe you one; or more."

She sighed with a flash of a smile as she finished wrapping up my wounds.

"Why are your eyes closed?" I felt her hands come up to my face and brush against my paling eyelids. "Did your eyes get hurt during your fight?"

"Do you have anything on?" I asked, shaking my head.

"N-No." I could see her embarrassed and worried face in my mind's eye.

I reached up and attempted to grab my shirt, only to realize that something in my hands had been cut and my grabbing ability was severely hindered. My thumbs, however, worked just fine though so I hooked one under the back of my collar and pulled off my shirt, offering, it to her.

"Take it."

I heard the rustling of cloth as the garment was lifted from my hand and I presume she put it on seeing what she said next.

"You can open your eyes now."

I looked at her, seeing the scared look on her face, the bruise on her left cheek and several on her legs, rope burn on her hands from trying to free herself no doubt after all; no one would sit there and just take that kind of torture. Because Naruko was so much smaller than me, the shirt fell almost to her knees, looking like a really cheap dress on her and covering any other signs of abuse.

"Come on, let's get you home."

I rocketed onto the balls of my feet and stood, only to get extremely dizzy as the world got dark around me. I faintly heard Naruko screaming as I fell unconscious.

* * *

><p>I woke up an hour later I was told, the doctor had already patched me up and were ready to discharge me after I woke up and got a final screening. Naruko was right there beside me the entire time, a sheet wrapped around her giving her more cover, not that she took off my shirt from what I could see of her at least throughout the screenings.<p>

We left shortly; I was fine and had some fresh bandages around my arms and my hands back at full use. Silence reigned as we walked through the deserted city streets, practically everyone else already in bed, with only a few, brief words spoken to tell me what had happened with Iruka-sensei and the scroll. We were just a little ways away from her home when she spoke, her voice breaking the heavy silence that had fallen between us.

"Are you alright?"

She sounded truly concerned but an underlying fear hid in the very depth of her voice… not surprising me after what I saw almost happen to her. I stopped and looked at her.

"I'm the one supposed to be asking you that, you're the one who almost got raped."

Slight humor in my voice to take the edge off the memory she is having, after all no one's eyes glaze over when thinking otherwise.

"But I didn't, thanks to you, and you got hurt saving me."

"It's the least I could do for you."

There was the barest of a pause before I said 'you' and she noticed it. Looking at me, her eyes filled with curiosity.

"What were you going to say?"

I blushed and looked away while mentally stumbling for an answer.

"N-Nothing."

"If you don't tell me, my mind will tell me things that aren't true. I'll start thinking that you are just like them!" A note of hurt and slight fear crept into her voice and instantly I wrapped her up in a hug without even thinking of the things she had experienced prior this day.

"It's the least I could do for the girl I love." I whispered into her hair, my arms pulling her to my chest.

She took a half step back, looking up into my eyes, hers wide with shock and a tint of disappearing fear remembering who she is with. Flushing a dark shade of red, she looked down and brushed a bit of hair out of her face tucking it behind her ear.

"You love me?"

I leaned close to her and whispered into her ear gently letting my lips brush her ear.

"I do with all of my heart."

I then kissed her hair as I held her in my arms she trembled slightly. I was rather startled when she pushed me away. I saw her face, darkened by a blush and a small smile gracing her lips; it was shaky but still a smile.

"Not here, okay."

I merely took her hand in mine and continued walking her home.

I was fine until we hit the stairs, and then my body reminded me I'd lost a lot of blood and I nearly blacked out again. I barely registered Naruko freaking out and pushing, no more like dragging, me into a chair in the kitchen area of her small apartment. There I sat for a while before the blood finally made it back to my head. I came to with Naruko's face about an inch in front of mine, worry etched with pristine detail in her expression.

"What happened?"

I put my hand to my face and exhaled slowly, "I lost more blood than I thought."

She put her arms around me and didn't let go even when I sat back in the chair, dragging her onto my lap unintentionally. It felt rather awkward looking down at her, her legs on either side of mine, her face buried in my chest and her arms around my torso. I put an arm around her and gently rubbed her back, almost jerking my arm away when she tensed up, before she let out a shuddering sigh, forcing herself to relax. Naruko hadn't been on my lap for a minute before she started to cry, her shoulders heaving as she breathed through the tears.

"Why? Why do you try and take my burden onto yourself? What have I done to deserve this from you?"

I could only pull her closer to me as I pondered that question myself, not really knowing why I did the things I did for her. I couldn't help but smirk as a memory of one fool who insulted Naruko in my presence.

Sasuke was being an asshole to everyone that day, when his eyes wondered over to Naruko he tried to make a joke about how she was so poor that she probably sold her body to pay for food. I bided my time until the dumbass tried to insult me and I instantly challenged him when he did, not that the insult to me was worth it. Most of the class got the fact that I wasn't fighting him to save my name. That was the only time I beat Sasuke, it was the only time I gave my entire being and every ounce of power I could manage to give without the consequences of murder in a fight against anyone, and it showed. Sasuke never insulted either of us again.

I finally gave up looking for a reason and merely said what was once told to me, a vague memory from my earliest years.

"Love isn't something that is deserved, it merely is. Love is given; it cannot be demanded or taken."

That only made her cry harder as I felt useless as I ran my hand through her hair in an effort to comfort, and I whispered in her ear that everything will be alright. It took her a few minutes for her to cry herself out and when she was done she leaned back and wiped her eyes on my shirt. She realized what she did and blushed.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking."

I shushed her and pulled her into a hug.

"It's fine, I don't care, really."

She pulled back and shook her head.

"But I care! Do you want to take a shower or something?"

The instant the words left her mouth her eyes widened and she blushed a deep crimson. I had to laugh. She scowled slightly at me, her good nature returning at rapid pace.

"I'm too tired to want anything more than sleep. I'm up way later than normal."

I was shocked when she blushed deeper. I hear her as she clears her throat while I brush some strands of her hair behind her ear.

"Do you want to sleep with me?"

Saying I was shocked was like saying the homage's of the past had a small enough ego to place their faces on a mountain.

I put my hand on her cheek and guided her gaze up so that our eyes met. Leaning forward I let our lips brush against each other for an instant before pulling back and meeting her eyes again. She blushes only slightly finally grasping the concept that I will never be like _**him**_.

"It's not what I want, it's what you want."

She stood up and took my hand, gently pulling, as if requesting me to follow her to her bedroom. She flipped off the lights for the main room as we entered her room. She let go of my hand and wrapped her arms around me in an awkward sort of hug.

"I'm not ready for sex, but I want to lie by your side. You don't mind, do you?"

I hugged her back and whispered back to her.

"I already told you, it's not what I want, it's what you want."

My eyes had adjusted to the moonlight streaming in the window enough that I could see her blushing face staring back up at me. I could see her chewing on her lip as she thought over something. I merely held her in my arms as she held me in hers. Finally her face darkened as her blush deepened darker than I thought possible with the situation.

"It gets too hot if you wear anything, so go ahead and take everything off."

She let go of me and turned around, and as if to set an example she lifted my shirt off her, no damage to her skin save the rope burns from struggling against their vicious hold mar her small frame and even those looked better than the last time I saw them, showing off her back, devoid of any piece of cloth to hinder my view . She walked over to the bed and slipped under the cover. There she turned over to look at me, silently asking me why I hadn't already followed her example. I walked over to the other side of the bed and sat down on it, and reached down to take off my boots, tossing them aside. My pants and boxers followed and I slid under the covers, sliding my right arm under the pillow, under her head, as I slid up next to her, my left arm draped over her, not touching her anywhere except her side; I felt her navel and the bare skin around but that was entirely all, I am a man of my word after all. We lay like that, no words spoken, as we both drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>AN; the guy doesn't have a name at the moment, that is why he is never named in the story, I will have chosen a name by the second chapter, you are welcome to suggest a name by review or PM if you wish. Note, just because you suggest a name, doesn't mean I will use it.<p>

New story, please tell me your thoughts... that means review people.

Special thanks to Girl-in-the-tiger-kimono for Betaing this chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up in the morning from a light knock on the door. My eyes opened and stared into Naruko's golden hair as a stray breath of wind made a wisp of her hair drift across my face, alerting me to just how close we lay. I realized that I could feel her body, her small back and soft skin lay against my chest as we spooned under the sheets. Blushing I pulled back and slid out from under the covers and got up, sitting on the edge of the bed and I put my head in my hands planning how I was going to move forward from here, when I heard the knock again. I stood up, grabbed my pants, and put them on, before walking to the door and opened it.

Sasuke looked very shocked when I opened the door.

"What are you doing here?!"

I blinked at her, still feeling the cloudiness of sleep tugging at the back of my mind.

"Taking care of a friend. What do you want?"

She looked down at the admonishment, then looked away blushing. The only person she had ever tried to approach after Itachi killed everyone in the Uchiha clan was me, the only other survivor, even if my bloodline had been sealed away along with my chakra.

"I was told to give this to Naruko-san and to speak with her. May I come in?"

She proffered up a forehead protector engraved with the emblem of the leaf and a pang of jealousy coursed through me. I ruthlessly crushed it and opened the door wider, before leaving the doorway and heading back into the apartment.

"I'm taking a shower, do what you want. Naruko is in the bedroom back that way" I gestured in the general direction, "she is still asleep though."

I walked into the bathroom and closed the door noticing Sasuke trying to peek on me.

_Crazy girl._

I quickly took my shower and walked out of the bathroom in a towel, my pants under my arm as I planned on ironing them. Both Naruko and Sasuke were sitting in the kitchen/living area as I walked by and they looked at me in shock, neither one saying a word, but both looking as if they wished I wasn't wearing the towel. I shook my head and walked back into the laundry room, closing the door behind me. It's not that I didn't want to have sex with them, it's that I had other things on my mind at the moment that were more pressing, after they were dealt with… well, we'll see.

I walked out of the laundry room with my pants on and saw both Naruko and Sasuke looking sheepish and somewhat embarrassed. I ignored them as I walked back into the bedroom and grabbed my shirt, putting it on as I walked towards the door.

"I'll be out for a bit, need to get a clean change of clothes as well a talk to someone. Do you want me to get something Naruko?"

She shook her head and I left, longing to spring to the rooftops and sprint to my destination. But as of the current moment that path was sealed away from me. I glanced down at my right wrist seeing the black ink that had been tattooed to me. I walked away from the apartment, hoping that my plan would work and that I would soon be free of the damned seal.

Sarutobi took a puff of his pipe and sighed before putting down the folder that had been in his hand onto his surprisingly clean desk.

"Tell me straight Kukazu, why is it that you wish to rejoin the ninja forces after you were expelled in such a manner?"

I blinked not understanding why he asked me with such words. I had not been expelled, I had been forcibly removed by the Uchiha clan right before they sealed my bloodline and exiled me from the clan.

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could he sighed again and looked at the ceiling.

"Nevermind, you don't remember, it was taken with your chakra."

My eyes widened in anger, but I said nothing, silently seething. Watching me the Third puffed on his pipe several more times before writing something on a piece of paper, folding it, and handing it to me.

"Give this to Sasuke-chan, she will give you something you need to read. If after reading it you wished to continue down this path, come talk to me on the marrow. Good day."

I took the paper and left, wondering what secrets it spoke of.

I took me 15 minutes to get back to Naruko's apartment, when by rooftop it would have only taken me two. I missed the perks of being a shinobi. I sighed, and then straightened my expression as I opened the door, and seeing the faces of the two girls at the table I guessed that I had interrupted a conversation that they didn't want me to overhear. I walked up to Sasuke and handed her the piece of paper, which, after looking at me, she read, her face falling while she did so, and when she looked up, her face was so filled with sadness that I was taken aback.

"Come with me. There is something I must give you."

She got up and headed for the door and I followed, only to be stopped as she stopped at the door.

"Naruko-chan, come with us."

She got up and hurriedly joined us as we left, walking the streets to the Uchiha clan complex. Again I was annoyed by the amount of time it took to travel without chakra, especially when I was so close to getting mine back. When we finally go there she lead us to the clan library and once inside she disappeared between the shelves for a few minutes before reappearing with a dusty scroll in her hands.

"Hokage-sama instructed that I give this to you and that I tell you that you must read it if you want your position back."

I grabbed it instantly, part of me wondering why I must read this scroll and another part just wanting to get it over with so I can be a ninja again. As I read further down the single entry I realized why I wasn't allowed to rejoin the shinobi forces without reading this. I closed it and got up and when they moved to follow I looked over my shoulder at them.

"I wish to be alone for now. Please don't follow me."

They both sat down and I left the library, heading for a corner of the complex forgotten by the clan. After nestling into a notch in a tree I opend back up the scroll and started at the top again.

_It's a sad thing really, he showed so much potential, and no one truly knows how he lost control, but he did and now we must all live with the consequences. Five lives are no more and no one in the clan is unscathed by the accident. First and perhaps foremost on the list of deaths is the poor boy's mother, Shio, who, seven years ago returned to us pregnant and refused to tell us who his father is. The next death to occur was Fugaku's youngest, a little girl of four who wandered to close to him while he was out of control. Then it was the girl's nanny, followed by two gardeners before the noise of his killings had attracted enough attention for stronger members of the clan we sent in to stop him. Even they couldn't stop him though and the Fourth had to be called in to defeat him. After doing so he had Kushina-san place a chakra seal on him, which after the clan council meeting was made permanent. The boy was truly sorry and was crying the entire meeting, and afterwards asked Kushina-san to remove the memories of the event from him, so that he may live in peace with himself at least._

_So as of this date, the 24 of March, in the 2__nd__year of the rule of the Fourth Hokage, Kukazu had his chakra sealed away for the deaths of five members of the Uchiha clan, the wounding of 12 members of the same clan, and the damaging of much of the afore mentioned clan's property._

The entry went on, going into detail of the dead and wounded as well as the property damage I had caused, but I stopped reading, putting my hands down and the scroll fell from my unfeeling fingers. I sat there for an undeterminable amount of time before I felt a pair of arms wrap around me. I looked down, startled and saw Sasuke's black hair leaning against my arm.

"I forgive you."

Somehow that sparked my tears; the idea that what I did was forgivable was more horrifying than what I had done. I had killed my own mother! My mother and Sasuke's younger sister had fallen before me and this girl says she forgives me. I put my head in my hands as I cry and before long another pair of arms enfold me, and Naruko's voice whispers softly into my ear reassurances that everything would be alright, even though it wasn't the future that I was crying for. No, it was the past… Show me a fresh corpse so that I may weep old tears… I cried as if I hadn't had a chance to ever morn my mother's passing.

I woke up the next morning with Naruko pressed against my side, her body flush with mine. Looking around I guessed that we were in one of the guest rooms at Sasuke's home. Turning my attention back to Naruko, I watched her face in the hazy light of pre-dawn that came in through the window. Her face was so peaceful, calm and realaxed. I reached up and brushed a lock of hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her ear, and was surprised when her eyes fluttered open at the light touch.

"Morning." Her voice was light and playful, yet held that heaviness of sleep.

I leaned over and kissed her forehead as I sat up.

"Go back to sleep love."

I walked out of Sasuke's house shortly afterwards, enjoying the chill of the pre-dawn morning air on my skin. With only a pair of shorts on I set out running, letting the simple work of the exercise and the cool air clear my mind. I had no destination, simply a decision to make, and only a little more time to make it in.

As the sun peaked over the horizon I found myself before a small shrine in the forest. Flashes of images of my mother and I being here came unbidden from my memory. I stepped inside; not very shocked by the state of ill repair it was in. Before me was a sword rack, empty but for a sword that's forging was lost in time. Rumors of unimaginable power surrounded it. The only reason the Uchiha hadn't ever used it for themselves was that my mother had been given it by my father apparently, and only she and I knew of its location. I reached out and grabbed the sheath in my left hand, its weight comfortable in my hand. I looked to my right; the wooden practices swords I had been raised with still lay scattered on the floor; as I grew older my mother had put leaden cores into some of them, so as to strengthen my arms faster. My attention fell back to the sheathed sword in my hand; reaching up with my right, I grasped its hilt, drawing it from its sheath. A burning sensation ignited on my wrist, the chakra seal trying to keep in control, though I couldn't say whether it was trying to keep the sword's chakra out of me, or my chakra out of the sword. I held on for as long as I could before the pain forced me to let go. I cried out, falling to my knees, the sword bouncing off of the matted floor. The pain in my wrist told me the decision had been made. I refuse to be protected. I am the one who protects.

I ran as fast as I could to the Hokage's office, drawing more than a few looks from early birds. I was actually surprised that Sarutobi was at his office at this hour, instead of his home. The old fart had to be in his late 50's if not his 60's. I brushed past his secretary, who seemed more interested in my body than in stopping me. I slammed my hand down on his desk, causing the old man to look up at me with a tired expression.

"I want the seal gone."

He sighed and puffed on his pipe a couple of times. The only reason I hadn't exploded on him was I had somewhat grown accustomed to his ways. It still pissed me off though.

"Do you really trust yourself with it off?"

His voice was old, ruffed by age and smoke, but held an air of kindness that one wouldn't expect of the veteran of two shinobi wars and the leader of one of the great 5 shinobi villages.

I looked down at the seal for a moment before looking back up at him.

"I've got an angle watching me, keeping me on the straight and narrow. I trust her, and she trusts me."

Another couple of clouds of smoke filled the room before he sat up and reached across his desk for my hand. Turning it over, he pulled out a knife, poising it over my wrist before looking up at me. I nodded, I trusted the old man. He made a series of cuts in my wrist, they felt like kitten scratches, stinging a little, but not really hurting. When he used a fire jutsu to heat the blade and put that to my wrist however, I had to bite my tongue not to cry out. He held it there for about 10 seconds, searing the cuts into my wrist, permanently burning them into my skin. When he removed the blade I felt my chakra quietly awakening, and stir within my body, like a cat getting up from its nap, slowly starting to move and stretch. I smiled my thanks and was about to leave when his voice stopped me.

"There's one more thing I've got for you."

I half turned and looked at him, waiting for him as he puffed on his pipe.

"Your mother's eyes."

I stiffened and my eyes widened as I fully turned to face him.

"What?"


End file.
